We Are the Youth: Poster wall exhibition at the ICP Museum

We Are the Youth is an ongoing photographic journalism project created by photographer Laurel Golio and journalist Diana Scholl chronicling the individual stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth in the United States. Through photographic portraits and interviews presented in the participants’ own voices, the project captures the incredible diversity among the LGBTQ youth population. We Are the Youth addresses the lack of visibility of LGBTQ young people by providing a space to share stories in an honest and respectful way.

Since June 2010 We Are the Youth has profiled more than 100 young people across the United States, some of which have been highlighted in a book by the same name, published in 2014.

Laurel Golio is a photographer and visual anthropologist. Her work revolves around the examination of community and its various subcultures, with a focus on using portraiture to investigate issues of self-presentation and identity. Laurel has been a contributor to The New York Times, New York Magazine, Metropolis Magazine, The Fader, Fast Company, The Oxford American, and the British Journal of Photography.

Diana Scholl is social media manager at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where she is overseeing the organization’s social media response to the Trump presidency. A former journalist, her work was recognized for Excellence in Newswriting by the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association in 2011.

As protests surrounding the death of George Floyd have erupted across the US and around the world, artists have joined their voices in the call to honor his life, put an end to systemic racism, and stop police violence in communities of color.